festnoise | Music & Festivals

Jan 22

Jan 22 Two Door Cinema Club @ Columbiahalle in Berlin

After a well deserved hiatus, Two Door Cinema Club were coming back to Berlin to present their new songs and renewed aesthetic, and after an hour and a half of concert, they proved that the wait was worth it!

The story of Two Door Cinema Club begins with three 15-year olds in Northern Ireland when vocalist and guitarist Alex Trimble and bassist Kevin Baird were studying music together and they started a band also with Alex's mate, guitarist Sam Halliday. The name of the band would come shortly after as a happy accident once they visited the “Tudor Cinema”, specialized in 50s/60s B movies. Inspired by the cinema name Sam suggested “Two Door Cinema Club” and the others found it cool. The rest is already history.

Two Door Cinema Club had been announced to play in Berlin on Friday January 17th, which was already good news cause it turns out that normally in Berlin the concerts often happen during the week. On Friday you could feel the party atmosphere. The night began on time, with English group Circa Waves stopping the murmur of a venue that began to be filled, demonstrating their good attitude and catchy melodies in a short performance where they presented their new album "Sad Happy." The Liverpool Quartet had been in Berlin just two months ago, and if on that occasion Musik and Frieden seemed to be too small (read about the concert here), this time Columbiahalle seemed to still be too big, although the beginning of the night could not have started better. Great warm up!

At 9pm, and after some drum beats that put the audience to shout, Alex Trimble took the stage of a crowded Columbiahalle. The band started with “Talk” and continued with the acclaimed “Undercover Martyn” and “I Can Talk”, warning everyone that there would be no time to refill beer. They performed 19 songs without a break and giving the impression to have every detail well prepared, and of course there was room for all their hits (What You Know, Something Good Can Work, Sleep Alone, Sun, ...) as well as for 4 of the new songs (Talk, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Satellite and Dirty Air) of an album (False Alarm) with which the Irish band seems to have advanced towards electronic pop in search of renewed relevancy.

Two Door Cinema Club showed that after over a decade of career, they have managed to keep a legion of followers staying true to their sound, thanks to intense work and years of never ending tours that even led Trimble in 2014 to have a physical and mental breakdown. They offered on Friday a great show, with an impeccably aesthetic thanks to colorful costumes and stage, accompanied at all times by the dazzling lights and a mesmerizing array of colors. However, Trimble is a serious dude of gestures and few words. Although in the end, that does not really matter when the visual and musical show is so polished. Few complaints for a party night that left everyone eager for more. We definitely will have to pay attention to the upcoming Summer festival lineups to see where to see them again!

Find all tour dates visiting the Two Door Cinema Club website here.

Two Door Cinema Club setlist of their concert at Columbiahalle in Berlin on January 17th, 2020